North Korea’s COVID outbreak hits over 1.7M; WHO is “deeply concerned”

According to state media reports, the outbreak in North Korea has reached over 1.7 million cases. It is a startling rise, given that North Korea claimed to have no COVID-19 cases a week ago.

But now the secretive, authoritarian country is acknowledging that the pandemic virus has been spreading "explosively" in since late April. Many experts have interpreted the admission as a sign of a dire situation in the country and a plea for international aid. North Korea has a weak health care system, and many of its people are undernourished due to an ongoing food crisis. Moreover, the country previously shunned offers of vaccines from the United Nations-backed COVAX program and China, leaving its population unvaccinated.

South Korea offered aid after North Korea acknowledged the outbreak for the first time. North Korea has not responded. The country may have accepted aid from China. According to diplomats who spoke with The Wall Street Journal, three North Korean cargo planes flew to China on Monday and returned the same day carrying medical supplies.

As state media reported a rosy outlook, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un openly chastised his country. Kim blamed the poor response to the crisis on officials and blasted the state capacity for dealing with it in a politburo meeting on Tuesday.

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The report said officials discussed maintaining the good chance in the overall epidemic prevention front and that the situation was taking a turn for the better.

WHO worried

Health experts are not as optimistic. The Director-General of the World Health Organization expressed concern about the spread of disease, lack of data, and refusals of aid.

Tedros said that the WHO is concerned about the risk of further spread of COVID-19 in North Korea because the population is unvaccinated and many have underlying conditions putting them at risk of severe disease and death.

The country reported 62 deaths in its state media reports. The large number of cases the government has acknowledged is expected to cause 62 deaths to be significantly less than the actual total. The number is in doubt because the country lacks testing resources. The cases are being counted based on unexplained illnesses. It is possible that 1.7 million people may not be counted because they are not sick with the coronaviruses.

Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO, said that North Korea could be a breeding ground for new strains of the virus. Vaccines will save lives, reduce hospitalization and suppress transmission, but they also function to keep pressure on the virus so we don't see the same rate of evolution.